


What we owe to each other

by thenotsogingerale



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, M/M, POV John Laurens, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 14:12:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17489516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenotsogingerale/pseuds/thenotsogingerale
Summary: This is actually an experiment, I started writing again recently and if this one chapter doesn't do terribly then I might finish writing the whole thing (I have most of it planned, it should end up being at least 20 chapters) and publish it.John Laurens is a college freshman with a passion for philosophy. Trying to make friends, he stumbles upon Alexander Hamilton, a law student at the same college.





	What we owe to each other

**Author's Note:**

> So this... is my first slow burn, be kind you guys. And also my first hamilton fic wowwww
> 
> Also, I didn't really write this thinking of the characters in the musical, I actually envision them more like the way that szin (https://www.youtube.com/user/Szinsiya121/featured) draws them in her animatics.
> 
> Anyways: John is a philosophy student because I like philosophy and I like John, so why not have both? And, yeah, I chose that title especially because of NBC's The Good Place, fight me.
> 
> Enjoy the first chapter y'all

The pile of books was heavy, both physically and financially. Despite that, John Laurens managed to handle the two issues: the first thanks to his workout routine; the second thanks to… well, it doesn’t matter how he did it.

The sun shined brightly in the sky, it was probably the hottest September afternoon John had ever seen. He walked back from the bookstore to the campus’ dormitory, and he wasn’t surprised at all when he noticed the dozens and dozens of people with luggages and bags flooding the place. It was the beginning of the semester, after all. John had arrived a couple of days earlier than most students so he could settle down in his dorm room quietly.

While he climbed the stairs of the building, he realised that he would’ve met his roommate that same day. He was probably already there, unpacking his stuff. As he finally stepped on the floor where his room was, John silently wished for his roommate to be a nice person.

Saying that the hallway was clogged was an euphemism. John felt a tingly sensation on his back, he could feel his white t-shirt getting sweatier as he separated families and couples kissing each other in order to make space and reach his room.

The door was open, which meant that the roommate had arrived, which meant that he had to talk to him. _Alright, hopefully it’s not a weirdo or a murderer. Here we go_ , he thought while he peeked in the room.

Unsurprisingly enough, it was neither a weirdo nor a murderer, yet. Just a tall, really skinny, black guy who was unpacking his stuff calmly. John stood there, the roommate still hadn’t noticed him, his back was turned to face the entrance.

“Hey” John tried to draw his attention. The guy turned his head, looking for the source of the voice. As soon as his eyes laid on John, he hinted a smile and simply said “salut”

John’s face went quickly from welcoming to terrified, and he almost dropped all his books. _Fuck. It’s worse than anything I could’ve imagined. It’s a french guy_.

He chuckled, and continued in a thick french accent “you don’t need to worry, I can speak english. I’m Gilbert du Motier, but you can just call me Lafayette”

 _Well played, french guy_. “Laf… Lafayette?” John asked, just to be sure that he understood correctly. He certainly didn’t want to mispronounce his roommate’s name. When Lafayette nodded, he said “well, I’m John Laurens.” John closed the door behind his back, walked to the desk he had previously claimed as his and let all the books fall on its surface.

“That’s a lot of books” it would take John so long to get used to that accent, “what do you need them for?”

“I’m majoring in philosophy” John replied while rearranging the books by color, trying to get them as close as possible to a rainbow order, “you?”

“Art history,” Lafayette continued unpacking without looking at John, “why did you choose philosophy?”

The question was legit, philosophy is an unusual subject to major in, “I just really like ethics and stupid questions.”

“It’s perfect for you, then” they both chuckled. John couldn’t believe that he actually liked this guy, he already knew that they were going to become friends very quickly.

John gave a look around the room, making sure that his side of the room was tidied up. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go have a look around, see if someone needs help with carrying heavy stuff. I’ll be right back, Lafayette,” John reopened the door and made sure that his hair tie was tight enough to keep his ponytail in place, then stepped out and closed the door after hearing a faint “okay” from his roommate.

The hallway was less clogged now, but there were still too many people for his taste. He noticed someone carrying probably the heaviest box John had ever seen in his entire life, so he decided to get closer and help.

“Hey, do you need help?” he asked, seeing that the young man carrying it was having some trouble.

“Please, it’s so fucking heavy” was the only response that John needed, he quickly put two hands under the opposite side of the box and lifted.

“Shit-” what the fuck was in that box that made it so heavy? “Which room is it?”

“Uhh… 315,”

“Cool, that’s close to my room, I’m in 316” John quickly replied. The two entered the room, that was already partially open, and let the box down on the floor. “Why is it so heavy?” Laurens couldn’t help but ask, he was too curious.

“Books, I love reading and I couldn’t live without my favorite ones… which are all the books I own, basically,” he chuckled, John laughed. “Thanks, by the way”

John noticed only in that moment what the guy he just helped actually looked like. He had long, dark, straight hair collected in a ponytail, like him. His eyes were almost as dark as his hair, he was as tall as him, if not slightly shorter, and his skin tone was just a couple of shades lighter than John’s. And _holy shit is he cute_.

He heard a noise behind him and, as soon as he turned around to check what it was, he realised that there was someone else in the room, sitting on one of the beds, writing something on a laptop. _Must be his roommate_. This other person was tall and dark skinned, like Lafayette, but as opposed to him, he had very broad shoulders, shorter hair and was more robust.

He decided to introduce himself before the silence became awkward, “I’m John Laurens, by the way”

“Alexander Hamilton” the guy he just helped responded, he was now opening the box, “and that’s Hercules Mulligan, my roommate.” The guy named Hercules briefly looked up from the screen said “hi” in a deep voice, then looked back down. “Sorry, you said that you’re staying in the room nextdoor?” Alexander asked while pointing to the hallway with one hand, the other inside the box.

John nodded, “yeah, 316” Alexander was taking the books out of the box and John couldn’t help but notice that one of them was a philosophy book, “is that ‘What We Owe to Each Other’ by Scanlon?”

“It is” Alexander said while looking at the book that he was holding in his hands. By his expression, he looked pleasantly surprised that John knew the book, “have you read it?”

“I sure as hell have, it’s so good”

The hint of a smile appeared on Alexander’s face, “it really is, I wanted to read it again, actually”

“You should, totally” John replied, before walking around the box and towards the door, “well, I should probably leave now. It was nice meeting you two, see you later. And if you need anything, I’m right next door.”

“Thanks again, John” Alexander waved at John, who left the rooms only to step into the one right next to it, barely noticing that the hallway was still as filled with people as earlier. _This Hamilton guy, he’s kinda interesting_.

Lafayette was now laying on his bed, he had finished unpacking and was looking at his schedule, “Art et arquitecture greque mardi à 7:30? Bordel de merde.” _That definitely sounded like a swear word_.

John grabbed his phone and, after unlocking it, he opened the Twitter app and typed “alexander hamilton” in the search bar. _Let’s see what this guy is like_. He quickly found Alexander’s Twitter profile (@lottabrains, _how humble_ ) and scrolled through his tweets.

_campus is bigger than expected, god i cant wait to get lost every single fucking day while going to class_

_hopefully 74 books are enough for a semester_

_just got the scholarshippp, New York im comin for ya_

John smiled softly, he didn’t know why he found those tweets so adorable. He scrolled back up and noticed that the bio said “Law student”

“Law?” John felt some sort of disappointment inside himself, only then he realised that he was quietly hoping for Alexander to be a philosophy student like him, _weird thing to hope for when you've only met that person only once, John_. _It doesn’t matter_ , he clicked the follow button, then locked his phone and threw it on his bed.

The rest of the afternoon and the evening passed pretty quickly. John spent the time either napping or scrolling through social media. At some point Lafayette left the room to go to the book store and buy the textbooks that he still didn’t own, when he came back, an hour later, John hadn’t even slightly moved from the position that Lafayette left him in.

As dinner time approached, the two checked the cafeteria’s hours. “We could go after 7, then come back and get ready for tomorrow, when classes start” John suggested. The only thing that he liked more than philosophy was slipping in comfortable clothes and laying in bed.

Lafayette nodded, “sounds good.”

When 7 PM rolled by, the cafeteria was half empty, the food looked edible and the line was acceptable. _Today is not that bad of a day_ , John thought. While waiting to get dinner, the two talked about their taste in food, and John was pleased to find out that Lafayette and him shared similar tastes.

“I don’t care that it’s healthy, cauliflower is fucking disgusting” John stated, emphasizing the g at the end of “disgusting”.

Lafayette nodded as if John had just said the wisest words a man could say, “it’s the most useless vegetable, I would be lying if I said that I don’t despise it”

Moments later, they were already looking for a table to sit at. “I’m so glad I found someone who truly understands my hatred towards certain foods,” John said while finally sitting on a chair. His eye caught the presence of someone familiar. In line, while getting their own food, John noticed Alexander and Hercules, the two people who he met earlier. They also noticed him and waved at him, John gestured an invitation for them to sit down with him and Lafayette, and Alexander nodded. Within less than a minute, Alexander and Hercules were about to sit in front of the other two.

“This is my roommate, Lafayette. Laf, these are Alexander and Hercules, our neighbors.”

After an exchange of “hi”’s, Lafayette asked “so, what are you two studying?”

Hercules was the first to answer, “computer science and electrical engineering”, the last thing that John had imagined.

“Law,” Alexander began, “I’ve always wanted to become a lawyer.” John could feel Lafayette’s eye turning to look at him, he must’ve heard him earlier when he was checking out Alexander on twitter and connected the dots.

“How about you guys?” John felt like he had been waiting for that question, even though he really didn't, “philosophy,” he simply said while looking at Alexander, “and he’s majoring in art history” he continued while pointing at Lafayette.

“So that’s why you know that book?” Hamilton asked, John nodded and pushed back a strand of hair who had escaped his ponytail.

“Yeah, I got into philosophy in high school, and that book changed my life.”

The four talked for the rest of the dinner, John almost forgot that he had food in his tray, he was too focused on getting to know his new friends, one of them in particular. It took him barely a few minutes of conversation to realise that Alexander Hamilton was not your average college student, he seemed such a complicated person, and it interested John so much.

Alexander said at some point: "My passion for reading started when I was 12, it's not like I had much else to do." How does a 12 year old have nothing else to do except reading? Hamilton spoke in perfect english, but something about him told John that he wasn't american. Where was he from, then? What did Alexander hide in his backstory?

“We should hang out sometime,” Hercules suggested after dinner, while the four climbed back up the stairs of the dorm.

“Totally,” John agreed, Lafayette limited himself to a nod.

“Well, if you need anything, we’re literally right here,” Alexander joked, and the others chuckled.

John opened the door to their room, “night, guys”

“Night”, “goodnight.”

John jumped on his bed, changed into comfortable clothes and then unlocked his phone. Instantly a notification appeared on the screen.

“ _@lottabrains followed you back_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, nice to see you again, if you think this could work as a full fanfiction or if there's anything that doesn't work for you, please let me know with a comment, I really appreciate every bit of criticism as long as it's respectful


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